CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
223 km from Rancho Viejo to Rancho Viejo, about 4 h of riding. It goes by way of Bridge of El Fraile, Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist, Former hacienda of Chichimequillas and Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
From the outside, the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is plain: thick whitewashed walls, a modest bell tower, a dusty plaza in a small village on the dry plateau of Guanajuato. Step inside and every surface erupts in colour. The church was founded in the eighteenth century by the priest Luis Felipe Neri de Alfaro as a place of penitence and spiritual retreat, and its walls and ceilings were covered over decades with murals by the painter Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre, full of saints, angels, Biblical scenes and verses. People call it the Sistine Chapel of Mexico, and the comparison is less exaggerated than it sounds. It is listed by UNESCO together with the nearby town of San Miguel de Allende.
Read the complete Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is where the day begins. Next is Bridge of El Fraile.
Atotonilco is a small village in the hills outside San Miguel de Allende, and its sanctuary is sometimes called the Sistine Chapel of Mexico. The church was founded in the eighteenth century and covered, inside, with extraordinary baroque paintings by a local artist, who filled the walls and ceilings with scenes of the Passion, saints and symbols in a dense, theatrical style. It is still an active place of pilgrimage, and many people walk here from San Miguel, especially during Lent, in a tradition that goes back centuries.
Read the complete Bridge of El Fraile write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bridge of El Fraile comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist.
North of the city of Querétaro, the land rises into dry hills dotted with cactus, mesquite and the remains of old haciendas. These estates were the economic engines of colonial Mexico, producing grain, livestock and pulque for the cities and mines of the north. The chapel of the former Hacienda of Buenavista stands in this landscape near the village of the same name, close to Santa Rosa Jáuregui, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
Read the complete Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist. Next is Former hacienda of Chichimequillas.
On the high, dry plain northeast of Querétaro, the village of Chichimequillas grew up around an old hacienda, one of the many great estates that lined the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Inland Road that connected Mexico City with Santa Fe, in what is now New Mexico, for nearly three centuries. Silver, mercury, cloth, livestock, missionaries and soldiers travelled this route, and haciendas like this one supplied food, water and rest. The route was listed by UNESCO in 2010 as a series of sites, and the hacienda is one of them; its old buildings, chapel and walls hint at the wealth and power once concentrated here.
Read the complete Former hacienda of Chichimequillas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Former hacienda of Chichimequillas, about halfway. Next is Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro.
Santiago de Querétaro's skyline is defined by its aqueduct, seventy-four tall stone arches striding across a valley into the city, built in the early eighteenth century at the expense of the Marqués de la Villa del Villar del Águila to bring fresh water from the hills. Legend says he did it for love of a nun; the more prosaic version says he wanted to improve public health. Either way, it is one of the great engineering works of colonial Mexico, and the view of the arches at dusk, lit up against the sky, is unforgettable.
Read the complete Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro sits at 116 km, about halfway. Next is back through Former hacienda of Chichimequillas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Former hacienda of Chichimequillas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Former hacienda of Chichimequillas comes up about 138 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 155 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist. Next is back through Bridge of El Fraile.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bridge of El Fraile write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bridge of El Fraile, late in the day. Next is Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 223 km.
Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco → Bridge of El Fraile is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bridge of El Fraile → Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist → Former hacienda of Chichimequillas is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Former hacienda of Chichimequillas → Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro → back through Former hacienda of Chichimequillas is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Former hacienda of Chichimequillas → back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist → back through Bridge of El Fraile is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bridge of El Fraile → Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.